A tradition of dissent: West Indians and Liberian journalism, 1830–1970

Abstract

As Liberia moved toward greater freedom of expression in 1971 after several decades of authoritarian rule, The New York Times credited a longtime critic of officialdom, Albert Porte, and a three-month-old magazine, the Revelation, with being pacesetters of the emerging trend (Johnson, 20 October 1973). Porte shared with several editors of the Revelation one commonality not noted in The New York Times article, and that was their West Indian origin. This article retraces the participation in Liberian journalism by persons of Caribbean descent, arguing that their specific contribution was a tradition of social criticism. The time frame extends from 1830, the year the nation's first newspaper was founded, to 1971, when Pres. William V.S. Tubman died, after serving as head of state for 27 years while dismantling protections for civil liberties (Wreh 1976). By examining behaviours and artifacts over such a long span, it is hoped that this study will better distinguish idiosyncratic patterns from those that are culturally determined.

Keywords:

• civil liberties
• dissent
• Edward Wilmot Blyden
• globalisation
• hegemony
• ideology
• John Brown Russwurm
• Liberia
• press freedom
• West Indians